Burned
by SweetT129
Summary: AU; Bella's near-death cliff diving experience wakes her up from her months of pathetic wallowing, and she realizes its time to get over it. When she gets home to find Alice, she discovers her anger at the Cullen's betrayal. Now it's time for revenge.


**A/N:** I always hated Bella in New Moon, when she instantaneously forgives all of the Cullens and has her "epiphany" about how Edward loves her. The way I see it, what they did to her when they left was horrible, and she should have been angry. So, I decided to let her be angry. Keep in mind when reading this that I have not yet invented sarcasm font, but if I had, the vast majority of this oneshot would be written in it. *winks*

Thanks to Carolinagirl127 and TillyWhitlock, who pre-read for me, and to Lacym3, who laughed like a crazy person with me when I decided to write this, and to the one who broke my heart and then danced on top of it, thanks for the inspiration. Finally, I'd like to dedicate this to mommybrook, because she totally didn't want me to write it, but will probably laugh reading it anyway.

Smeyer owns these characters and all recognizable elements of Twilight. I am sure she would not approve of this. But that's kind of the point...

**Burned**

Sitting in the passenger side of the truck, still shivering, Bella decided she'd had enough. She'd just jumped off a cliff during a storm, for goodness' sake, and had it not been for her best friend being a werewolf, there was no doubt that she'd be dead. The slap in the face that was Harry Clearwater's death that same afternoon, news which Jacob gave Bella not long after pulling her from the frigid water, had been just the thing that Bella needed to help her pull her head out of her ass. For months, she'd been walking around, seemingly more dead than the vampires whose loss she'd be grieving, torturing Charlie with her apathy rather than living her life. But that was about to change.

Turning to Jacob, Bella reached over and rested her hand over his on the gear shift. "Jacob, I'm sorry. I've been such a shit friend to you these past four months. I don't know why you haven't given up on me."

"I'd never give up on you, Bells," Jake replied, his smile so warm that she almost stopped shivering. "I'll always be here for you."

Bella could see the expression on his face changing from concern to hope as she smiled back at him. And then... No. Not longing... Anything but that. Bella knew she had to nip _that _in the bud. She was ready to stop wallowing in self-pity, yes, but she was also ready to develop a sense a self-preservation. Better late than never, right?

Jacob was a werewolf, and she'd spent enough time with his pack these past few months to learn a little about what that meant. The wolves imprinted, and it was clear that she was not Jake's, which meant he still had one to find. Rather than get her heart broken yet again, and return to the walking dead, or, even worse, become a bitter old shrew like Leah, Bella was going to protect her heart.

"Jake... I'm sorry. I know that you're hoping that I'm going to change my mind about us being together. But... It's just not a good idea, Jake. You don't _want _to hurt me, but you will. I don't want you to stop being my friend, but that's as far as it can go. Please, Jake... Please let it be this way."

Jacob wasn't happy. He'd been patient these past months, hoping that she'd eventually come around. When he saw that light come back into her eyes just moments before, he'd recognized his friend for the first time in months. He didn't want to lose her, so he'd just have to accept her request, no matter how much it hurt.

Breathing a heavy sigh, Jake gave in. "Alright, Bella. Just friends."

"Best friends," she replied.

Jacob was just about to agree when a sickeningly sweet stench met his nostrils. "What the...?"

Bella saw his body begin to shake, and her new-found self-preservation instinct kicked in. "Jake, calm down, please... We're in my truck!"

Snapping his head around toward her, Jacob's face was completely serious, his eyebrows furrowed with anger. "There's a vampire here, Bella. I'm getting you the hell out of here now!"

As Jacob reached to put the truck in reverse, Bella's eye caught the gleam of a shiny paint job. Doing a double-take, she immediately recognized the car as Carlisle's black Mercedes.

"Stop! Jacob, stop!" Bella yelled, grabbing his arm. Her recent decision to stop giving a shit about the Cullens completely forgotten, she was bound and determined to go see the patriarch of the family she had once thought of as her own, even if it meant jumping out of the moving truck and pissing off her werewolf friend. Self-preservation be damned.

"Are you fucking crazy, Bella?" Jacob demanded. "I just said there's a bloodsucker in the house!"

"I know, moron! It's Carlisle – that's his car!"

"You don't know that," Jacob seethed, his teeth gritted with anger as he tried to keep from phasing. "The damn redhead has been trying to get to you for weeks. How the hell can you just assume this is a 'good' vamp?" He put his hands up to form air quotes as he said it, which irritated the crap out of Bella.

"Jacob. Stop the damn car now. I'm getting out, whether you do or not," she said, her hand on the door handle.

Jacob, seeing there was no way to talk her out of it, and really not wanting to see what would happen if he phased inside her truck, put it in park.  
"Damn it, Bella. I'm not going in there with you. This is Cullen land; I can't do anything to protect you if it's one of them. Please, let's just go back to the rez..."

Bella rolled her eyes. "If it's one of them, there's no danger, idiot. Just go back home, I'll see you tomorrow."

Against his better judgement, Jacob let Bella get out of the truck and walk in to her house. Slamming the driver's door shut after he got out himself, he immediately gave into the rage he felt over his friend willingly walking into a house with a vampire in it, and ran back toward the reservation in wolf form.

Bella approached the door to her house without any of the caution that a human about to walk into a building holding an unknown vampire should possess, and, finding it unlocked, walked right in. She was startled when, rather than the soft, honeyed voice that she expected from Carlisle, her name came as a question from a high-pitched, bell-like tinkle. _Alice_.

Bella's emotions shifted once again, so fast that she wondered whether she might have a case of multiple personalities in the works. Suddenly, all the sadness that Bella had wallowed in for months was gone, replaced by betrayal and anger. Excited as she had just been about the prospect of seeing the Cullens, finding the girl that she had once called her best friend, the girl who abandoned her without a single word of goodbye, in the house waiting for her really kind of pissed her off.

Alice appeared out of the shadows looking rather confused. "You're alive?" she asked.

"Yeah, sorry to disappoint you," Bella replied rather rudely as she took off her coat and hung it in the closet.

"Bella!" Alice reprimanded, not really appreciating her best friend's attitude. "Why would you say such a terrible thing to me?" Alice reached out to try to embrace Bella, but the younger girl took several extra steps to the side and walked around her, not interested in physical contact.

Alice may not have appreciated Bella's attitude, but neither did Bella appreciate hers. Nor was she interested in answering the vampire's questions. It wasn't her business. Not anymore. "Alice," she said, "Why in the hell are you in my house?"

Alice's face fell as she took in Bella's tone. "You're not happy to see me?"

"Why would I be, Alice?"

"Because I'm your best friend," Alice said, sounding slightly pathetic, even to herself.

Behind them, the door slammed. Both girls turned toward the sound, shocked. The vampire's nose wrinkled immediately as the room was saturated with the scent of wet dog, and a growl built in her chest, though she wasn't quite sure why.

"You _were_ her best friend, leech. Not anymore," Jacob said, his voice dripping with hostility as he quickly crossed the room and sat down on the arm of the couch beside Bella, putting his arm over her shoulder. "That position has since been filled," he added, smirking.

Bella smiled up at him and whispered her thanks to him for returning. Turning back toward Alice, Bella wondered for a second if the little vampire had ever looked so forlorn in her life before realizing that she didn't really care, and shrugged, nodding her head to indicate that Jacob's words were true. After all, Alice had obviously not cared about how miserable Bella had been the past several months.

Alice struggled for a moment to find a way to fill the awkward silence. There were so many questions flying through her mind, demanding answers, but it was difficult to care when her dead heart was broken in half over the loss of her best friend. She wondered how she had not seen this happening.

The silence was broken by the ringing of the telephone, and Jacob, who by now had made it his habit to treat the Swan house like home, got up to answer it. His conversation was brief, as he let the caller know that Charlie was busy making arrangements at the funeral home and then hung up, returning to the living room and his spot beside Bella.

"So, best friend," he said, flashing a smug grin toward Alice as he rubbed the information in her face. "What do you want to do for dinner? I'm hungry."

Bella rolled her eyes and laughed. "You're always hungry, Jake. It's been kind of a rough day; I don't really feel up to cooking. What do you say we order some pizza?"

Jake nodded enthusiastically, thinking that two larges with lots of toppings should be enough for the two of them.

"I'd invite you to stay, Alice," Bella said, her voice full of false politeness. "But I don't really think you'd like what I'm going to serve."

Alice nodded sadly, knowing there was no point arguing. She didn't have any hope of changing Bella's mind, and, quite honestly, the smell in the house was starting to bother her. "Take care, Bella," she said softly, with none of her usual enthusiasm, as she turned toward the door.

Bella rose to follow her so that she could lock the door behind her, and unfortunately couldn't react fast enough when Alice suddenly stopped walking, running right into the vampire's hard back. Her hand flew up to her head to rub the sore spot. "What the hell, Alice?" she cried.

Alice stood, frozen in place for a minute, not responding. Finally, she turned around to face Bella and Jacob, her eyes wide with fear.

"No," Alice said, shaking her head quickly. "No, no no..."

"What's going on?" Jacob asked, sounding a combination of confused and irritated.

Bella, on the other hand, was just irritated. She'd seen Alice have enough visions in the past, and immediately rolled her eyes, assuming Alice had just had a vision of what Bella was planning to wear to school the next day and disapproved.

"Edward..." Alice whispered.

"Forget he asked," Bella interrupted. She didn't give a rat's ass what Edward was doing. It no longer mattered what his "distractions" currently were, Bella had stopped caring two hours ago. "Come on, Jake," she said, turning around and pulling on her friend's sleeve. "Let's go get pizza."

"Bella," Alice said desperately, reaching out and taking hold of Bella's other arm. "Bella, it's Edward. He thinks you're dead. He's going to go to Italy and ask the Volturi to kill him too."

Bella whipped around to face Alice. "Why in the hell would he do that? He's an even bigger idiot than I remember!"

"He doesn't want to live without you, Bella," she explained.

"What a douche," Jacob mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"He already _is_!" Bella exclaimed, furious. "Seriously, Alice. That doesn't make an ounce of sense. Edward already _is_ living without me. By his own choice, no less!"

"Barely," Alice corrected. "He's barely getting through each day. He's as much in love with you as ever."

"I'm not even going to comment on _that_ load of crap," Bella said, shaking her head. "So, basically, Edward can live without me as long as I'm alive, but living without me when I'm dead is impossible? Yeah," she scoffed, continuing her rant. "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense."

"I don't have time to correct whatever misapprehension you are currently under, Bella. My brother could be dead in the matter of twelve hours. I have to do something!"

"He already _is_ dead," Jake corrected. Alice sneered.

"You're serious," Bella said, still rather confused about Edward's behavior. "He's really going to do this?" Alice nodded. "Idiot!" Bella shouted, kicking the wall. She turned back to Alice, shaking her head. "No. No, I'm not going to let him do this. If he dies, it's not going to be with some god damn Romeo complex. I am not taking the fall for his idiotic decisions. Come on, Alice."

Bella grasped the sleeve of Alice's coat and pulled as she walked by, hoping that Alice would get the message and follow. She did, and the two moved toward the door.

"Bella!" Jacob called. "Where in the hell do you think you're going? Are you as big of an idiot as your douchebag bloodsucker?"

Bella turned back. "Jake, I am going to Italy. I am not going to have Edward's blood... venom, whatever... on my hands."

"I can't let you do this," he replied, walking toward her.

Those were the wrong words to say. Bella, during her epiphanic moment on the beach, had realized that she had let Edward determine her course in life for too long. She wasn't going to let Jake do the same thing to her. No one was going to "let" Bella do anything ever again.

"I'm going," she said firmly. "I'll be back, I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Jacob called as the door slammed behind the two girls. Angry with his friend to the point that his hands had begun to vibrate, he phased the second he ran out of the back door into the Swan's backyard and ran off into the woods to cause some destruction.

During their entire horrifically-long flight, Bella pointedly ignored Alice and spoke to the older Italian woman across the aisle, who was advising her about what sights Bella should visit on her trip. Alice, who was annoyed by Bella's childish silent treatment, was fighting the urge to scream at her that the only sight she had any chance of seeing on this trip was Edward's face, and maybe the inside of the Volturi's castle, if she was unlucky, but bit her tongue.

For the course of the trip, at least, Alice decided she could take one for the team, in the hopes that Bella would get over her anger before finding Edward so that the two could finally have their happily ever after. Bella, however, in between listening to old woman and fighting the urge to kick Alice in the shins to get her to stop the incessant fingernail-drumming on the armrest, spent the flight thinking of all the ways she could tell Edward to fuck off once she found him.

They arrived in Rome and Alice decided to steal a car to take them to Italy. Bella climbed into the car against her better judgement, still rolling her eyes hard at the car choice: a bright yellow Porsche. How very... Alice. Bella shook her head, wondering whatever happened to the Cullen's attempt to blend in. She guessed it didn't matter that much, really; they sucked at it anyway.

Alice drove like a crazed lunatic all the way to the walls of the city, where she was forced by the police to stop. She instructed Bella to run all the way to the clock tower, her visions telling her that this was where Edward planned on revealing himself to the humans. Any hope they had of being successful in saving the suicidal vampire was now in Bella's hands.

Bella ran as fast as she could toward the clock tower, only tripping three times. She was Bella Swan, after all, and the bricks paving the plaza wasn't exactly laid flat. She made a mental note to write a letter to the local government about said issue when she got back to Washington.

As the clock tower began to ring in the noon hour, two things happened. First, Bella reached the tower, though at exactly the wrong moment. Just as her hand reached out to turn the knob, the second thing happened: Edward flung open the door to the tower and took his first step out toward the sun, completely ready to face the end of his long and dreary existence, and hoping against hope that Carlisle was right and he still had a chance at Heaven. Surely his Bella would be there.

He changed his mind immediately when the scent of freesia hit him. He had been right after all – he was in hell. Or so he thought. He was quickly brought out of his agonized thoughts by a familiar voice, one that sounded frantic. Looking down, he saw the girl that he had been sure he'd never see again. And she was bleeding heavily from what her nose, which appeared to be broken. Edward was frozen on the spot, his two sides fighting desperately against each other, one wanting to help her, the other demanding to drink its fill of her delicious blood.

Bella sat on the ground, her hands pressing against her nose, fighting back the tears that came with the pain. Suddenly, she noticed the blood pooling on the ground under her.

"Shit," she mumbled, pretty sure that she was screwed now.

She looked up, and watched as Edward moved toward her slowly, each step seeming to take forever. Bella was pretty sure she'd seen old met with walkers move faster than Edward was at this moment. Looking up further to see his face, Bella steeled herself against a "dazzle" attack. There was no way she was letting the idiot in. Not a chance in hell.

When she got to his face, however, there was no evidence that Edward was trying to dazzle her. Actually, she was pretty sure that he was hoping to eat her. And not in the good way.

"Shit," she muttered again. She knew running wouldn't help, if anything, it'd make things worse.

Edward finally reached her, and bent down beside her. Bella could hear the low growl rumbling in his chest. This was really not how she had hoped this day would work out.

Edward was still fighting his own urges, desperate to find the strength not to attack the girl he was in love with. But Edward had been laying on the dirty floor of an attic in South America, feeling sorry for himself and bewailing his pitiful existence for months, and, more importantly, not feeding. The burn in his throat had been almost unbearable on the plane to Italy, but now, in the presence of the freshly-spilled blood of his singer? There was no way he could stop himself.

He knelt down beside Bella, lowering his face to the ground and sticking out his tongue to taste the blood that had pooled there. The venom was dripping out of his mouth as his face came back up to look at Bella, so much so that Bella thought he looked like he had some sort of disease. Edward's hand came up to her shoulder and he gently pressed her back to the ground. His hand was close to her breast, and Bella couldn't help but note the irony that, now that he was about to kill her and she didn't want him to anymore, Edward was almost feeling her up.

He began to lean down over her, but just as his breath blew over her neck, Edward cried out and fell to the ground, shaking as if he were having a seizure. For a second, Bella wondered if Carlisle had put shock collars on the Cullens, similar to the ones that dogs wear when they have an invisible fence, that zapped them when they tried to drink from humans. Probably not, though it might have been a good idea. She sat up quickly in shock, looking around her in search of the cause of his off behavior. To her left, she saw a tall man and a young girl, both of which were wearing dark cloaks and obviously vampires. The young girl had a creepily-sweet smile on her face and was staring right at Edward.

What the effing crap?

The taller male vampire put a hand on the little girl's shoulder and Bella heard him tell her to stop. Bella didn't know _what _she was doing, but she assumed that she complied with the man's wishes when she saw Edward's shaking stop. She wondered for a minute if he would try to attack her again, but he showed no signs of moving.

The male, however, did move, very slowly and toward Bella. She stiffened, wondering how the hell she had gotten herself in a situation where she was bleeding and surrounded by vampires. Again. Maybe Edward wasn't the only idiot around here?

He bent down beside her, and then she heard the sound of fabric ripping. He handed her a piece of his cloak. "Please cover your nose with this, it will help stop the bleeding," he said, speaking in heavily-accented English. "I fed this morning, you needn't worry about my control, but I am not the only one here." He glanced over at Edward, still curled up in fetal position on the brick path. Bella did as the vampire instructed. "I am Demetri. I am part of the Volturi Guard. My masters have sent Jane and I to fetch you and Edward. They would like to meet you."

"I don't suppose this is a request?" Bella asked, her voice muffled by the fabric balled up under her nose. Demetri shook his head. "Yeah... Didn't think so," she mumbled, getting up. She paused for a moment, looking down at Edward. "What about him? What's wrong with him anyway?"

Demetri laughed softly. "Jane's gift is to make a vampire feel excruciating pain. That's how she got him off of you. It's immediate effects ended when the shaking stopped, but he's a bit... How do you say? Traumatized?" He leaned down toward Edward and spoke a bit more loudly. "Get up, Cullen. Aro awaits."

Edward didn't move. Bella, rather irritated with her ex-boyfriend for breaking her heart, putting her in her current situation, and for, however inadvertently, breaking her nose, wasn't feeling especially sympathetic. Or patient. She took a step toward him, drew her foot back, and kicked him as hard as she could in the shin.

It wasn't the best decision she'd ever made. As soon as her foot connected with Edward's leg, she began howling in pain, letting out a stream of curses she'd never used before. It was a far cry from her usual "holy crow" for sure.

In keeping with the pattern of bad decisions, Edward made a very poor choice for his first words. "Bella, such language! It's unbecoming!" he scolded, as if she were a child. Or someone who cared what he thought.

More angry than before, Bella kicked him again, then began hopping up and down on one foot in severe pain. Bella may have been book smart, but it was becoming more and more clear that the girl was lacking in common sense.

By this time, Demetri was fed up with the two of them, and more than ready to get back to the castle. Grabbing Bella around the waist, he hoisted her up on his shoulder and began to walk away. Speaking softly, since he knew Edward would be able to hear, he commanded him to join him in his return to the castle, or else face the wrath of Jane. Edward, feeling very much worse for wear, rose and followed, his head hanging heavily. He should have been relieved that he and Bella were both alive, but their reunion had not quite gone the way he would have liked it to, and truly, their current situation left a lot to be desired.

After a rather long journey that involved lots of stairs and doors, and what Bella was pretty sure were sewer tunnels, they finally arrived in a small room which looked a lot like a doctor's waiting room. Demetri set Bella on the floor in front of him and raised a brow at her.  
"Do you think you can control yourself now, child?" he asked.

Bella nodded, scowling a bit. Wasn't like she had a whole lot of choice in the matter, after all. When she tried to walk, however, she realized that the real issue would not be controlling her temper, but simply walking on a foot that, in the best case scenario, had several broken toes. She stood by Demetri's side, holding onto his arm for support as they waited for the elevator doors to open, refusing Edward's attempt to pull her closer to him. Really, she couldn't believe he tried.

After the elevator doors opened on the main floor, Demetri led them into what was clearly the Volturi throne room. Bella limped beside him, and glanced around nervously, counting the vampires in the room. There were 5, not counting the ones she had entered with. Not a great situation for her, really, but at least she had stopped bleeding.

In her search of the room, she noticed Alice was not present. Bella was rather irritated by this fact. Surely she had seen all the trouble that Bella had found up until this point. Alice was the one who said they had to come on this idiotic rescue mission, where the hell was she now while Bella did all the work?

In front of Bella, three vampires, all of whom looked much older than any of the Cullens, sat on thrones. Bella remembered from the painting in Carlisle's office that these were the Volturi brothers, leaders of the vampire world. The one in the center, with long black hair, she knew was Aro. When he saw her, he jumped – literally – down from his throne and approached, his hands clasped together and a ridiculous grin on his face.

"And you must be Bella," he said, sounding giddy. "Oh! How pleased I am to meet you!" He reached out and took her hand between his and shook it vigorously for a moment, then furrowed his brow at her. "How curious..."

"What?" Bella asked skeptically.

"He cannot see your thoughts," Edward explained gently. "His gift is that he can hear all your thoughts with the touch of a hand. But..."  
"No one asked you," Bella interrupted, turning to scowl at him before looking back at Aro, who had yet to release her from the handshake.

"My, my," Aro said, chuckling softly. "Not exactly the relationship I saw in your memories, Edward."

"No," Bella answered in Edward's place. "It wouldn't be, though, would it? After all, this idiot abandoned me in the woods to go enjoy some lovely distractions. Or some shitty ones, by the looks of him," she added bitterly, shrugging.

"Bella, please," Edward pleaded. "We need to speak privately; there's much to say."

"You said it all in the woods, Edward," she said harshly. "I'm not interested in anything else you have to say."

"Then why are you here, child?" Aro asked.

"Because this moron was going to kill himself and make it my fault. I didn't want that hanging over my head forever."

Aro looked confused, and called over his shoulder to his brother Marcus, who walked silently toward them, an uninterested look on his face as he touched his hand to Aro's, paused for a moment, then returned to his seat.

"How interesting," Aro exclaimed, clapping his hands again. Edward growled first, but then let out an agonizing wail, falling to his knees.

Bella looked at him, then back at Aro, raising a brow. "Jane again?" she asked, casually.

"Not this time, child," he replied. "He's just learned that your end of the bond is cut and frayed. You no longer love him. He's..." Aro glanced at Edward again, and shook his head. "Not taking it well."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Idiot," she mumbled once again.

"Get up, Edward," the white-haired Volturi brother, which Bella knew was Caius, commanded from his throne. "You have answers to give."

"What's going on?" Bella asked.

"Your Edward has broken our law, child," Aro explained kindly. "His actions today did not make much of a scene, luckily. However, you are quite clearly aware of our nature, and yet you remain human. This is a clear violation."

"Oh yeah," Bella said. "That."

"She speaks like it is nothing!" Caius bellowed angrily, slamming his fist down on the arm of his throne, causing several pieces to crumble and fall to the floor. "It is not nothing!"

Bella struggled not to laugh at Caius's exclamation. He was quite clearly an older man, but he sounded a lot like a three year old at the moment.

Aro held up a hand to calm his brother. "I am well aware of this, brother," he said calmly. "Allow me to finish, if you would." Caius folded his arms across his chest and scowled, but remained quiet.

"Edward," Aro said, with a voice that sounded like he was scolding a child, which, really, was pretty accurate given Edward's recent behavior. "You've broken the law, and done so knowingly. There are only two options now. You can change her, and go off on your way with a warning, or we will destroy you both."  
"No!" Edward shouted. "I won't let you!"

"Shut up, Edward," said Caius, Aro, Bella and Demetri simultaneously.

"As I was saying," Aro continued. "There are two options. Bella, my dear child," he said, turning back to look at the human girl. "I'm afraid that we cannot permit you to remain human. You know of our secret, so you must either be changed, or..."

"Or I'm dinner," she supplied.

Aro looked uncomfortable. "Yes, I suppose that would be accurate. I would like to offer you a pos..."

"No!" Edward shouted again. "Stop this! I will not allow you to do this to my mate!"

Bella turned and looked at Edward harshly, her eyes narrowed. "Your mate?" she seethed. "Screw you, Edward." Bella, turning her back to the bronze haired vampire who was still on his knees beside her, looked at Aro. "You were saying?"

"I was going to offer you a position with the Volturi. It seems you have a gift, one that manifests itself even now while you are human. I'd very much like to see you as a vampire."

Bella wasn't really interested in remaining with the collection of freaks assembled before her, but neither did she want to die. And there was no way in hell she was leaving here with Edward. Considering her options for a moment, Bella finally announced her choice to Aro. "I will stay with you and be changed."

"No! Bella, I will not allow you to do this!"

"It's either that or death," Aro reminded him.

"Bella! Think about this. Think about what you're doing! I will not let you be changed! You cannot give up your soul, Love. You don't want to be a monster like me. Death is the better option!"

For the second time in twenty-four hours, Bella was being told by a man who was not her father what he would allow her to do. And once again, it wasn't going over well. Not at all.

"You know what, Aro?" Bella said. "I think Edward has made his choice. 'Death is the better option'. Go ahead and kill him. When you're done, you can change me."

Aro looked at Bella in shock. "Are you sure?" Bella nodded, having completely run out of patience and the ability to give a crap.

Aro waved a hand toward Demetri, and the blond vampire moved quickly toward Edward, who did not struggle in the slightest bit. Bella turned away as the loud keen of vampire flesh tearing filled the cavernous room. When the sounds of his work ended, Bella looked back to see several other vampires running from the room, their arms laden with body parts. She looked questioningly at Aro.

"Well, we don't want to burn him in here... The smell is rather unpleasant, and really, no vampire enjoys being so near a fire." Aro grimaced, and Bella found herself giggling at the ridiculousness of it all.

Her light moment was interrupted, however, but the sound of the large doors at the back of the room slamming open. Turning quickly toward the sound, Bella saw Alice running into the room, frantic, screaming Edward's name. Bella scoffed, thinking what convenient timing the little vampire had.

"It's too late," Bella said coldly. "Correction. _You're_ too late. Edward is dead. Well, deader."

Alice's eyes filled with venom as she processed Bella's words. She had seen this, of course, but not early enough. "How could you?" she whimpered.

"It was his choice, not hers," Aro answered calmly. "She made her own choice, which was to become a vampire. I was just getting ready to bite her."

"Aro, may I make one request?" Bella asked. He nodded, smiling at her. "I'd like to say goodbye to my father. I left suddenly to come here, and that's not very fair of me. I mean, I won't be able to see him anymore, and I..."  
"Absolutely not," Caius said firmly.

"Aro," Alice said softly, stepping forward with her hand raised. "If you will allow it, I'll take responsibility for her return. You have my word."  
Alice touched her hand to Aro's, and he stood silently for a few minutes, watching her memories flash before his eyes. When he finally pulled away, he looked positively giddy.

"How amazing it must be, child, to see things before they happen! I see no reason to deny your request, Bella," he said, turning back to her. "You'll be quite remarkably beautiful as a vampire, Bella."

Bella blushed, squeaking out words of thanks. She wasn't pleased to learn that she'd be stuck with Alice for several days, but if it got her back to Charlie, she would keep her complaints to herself for now.

A few moments later, as Aro tried to calm Caius, Alice and Bella slipped out of the Volturi castle to return to Rome. Neither girl was very pleased to be in the other's company at the moment, and Bella was incredibly suspicious of Alice's motivation for helping her. But, in this case, they needed each other. For the sake of peace, they traveled in silence yet again.

As the plane descended toward Sea-Tac, Alice was caught up in a vision. Angry as she was with Bella for her flippant attitude about Edward's death, she decided that it was only fair to warn her of what was awaiting them.

"The whole family is standing by the entrance of the airport. They've come to welcome us home."

Bella groaned. "Are you freaking kidding me? God, what is with you Cullens this week?"

"Bella, they are your family. They've missed you. Of course they'd be here."

Bella slammed her fist down on the armrest. "No! No they are _not _my family. Family doesn't abandon you without so much as a goodbye. God, Renee may be a shitty parent, but at least she checks in with me to see how I'm doing. Not one of you have done that since September."

"Edward told us not to," Alice said, stuttering uncharacteristically as she said his name.

"Oh, and Edward's the boss of your family?" Bella said, her voice heavy with sarcasm. "I bet if Edward told Charlie that he didn't want him to talk to me ever again, Charlie would tell him to fuck off. You know why? Because Charlie loves me."

"We love you too, Bella," Alice whispered, desperately trying to make Bella understand, desperately hoping she could earn her forgiveness.

"No. You don't, Alice. And if you really believe that, then you don't know what love is." Bella turned in her seat to face the front of the plane again. "I'm done with this conversation. I'm stuck with you until I go back to Italy, but that's all this is, Alice. You're just my chaperone. Got it?"

Alice was pretty sure that her heart couldn't break any more, and her voice shook as she accepted Bella's terms. As the plane taxied toward the gate, Alice did her best to put herself together and Bella did her best to prepare herself to a reunion that she really didn't want to have.

After they exited the plane, Bella began to drag her feet a bit. She knew that her "reunion" with the Cullens was going to be a giant disaster, and as much as part of her wanted to tell them all off for the way they had treated her, most of her really just wanted to run like hell in the opposite direction. As she limped through the airport behind Alice, Bella found several reasons to stop. Bathroom first, bookstore next, even the gift shop, where she picked up several silly souvenirs that would be pointless next week when she was a vampire, such as a Seattle shot glass, coffee mug, and a Zippo lighter.

Finally, Alice grew impatient and dragged her out of the shop, throwing several bills on the counter as she did.

"Bella, stop stalling. Let's go," she commanded.

Bella rolled her eyes, not really appreciating being rushed, but went along all the same. She knew she couldn't stay in the airport all week if she wanted to see Charlie. Sighing, she decided it was best to just get this over with so she could get on with her life.

"Thank you," Alice said, obviously having seen her decision.

The two girls walked the rest of the way through the airport in silence, the scowl on Bella's face speaking volumes about her desire for conversation.

As they approached the exit doors, they caught sight of the rest of the Cullen family. The initial excitement and hope in their eyes disappeared with a small shake of Alice's head when they looked at her, questioning Edward's whereabouts. Carlisle felt his wife's form begin to fall beside him as Esme's knees gave way in her devastation, and quickly wrapped her in his arms.  
"Let's go," he said, his voice quivering. He was barely containing his own grief about the loss of his first son, and Bella's glare was making him rather uncomfortable, but he knew that the explanation could not take place in public.

Bella continued her silent walk, completely ignoring Emmett as he tried to approach her, his arms held out for a hug. As she passed him by without so much as a glance, Emmett was crestfallen, and his shoulders sank with dejection. Rosalie saw this and her anger spiked, but she knew this wasn't the time or the place, so she, like Bella, walked out of the airport in silence, glaring at the back of the human's head.

Only because of her promise to Aro did Bella allow Alice to ride in her truck with her on the drive home. Well, that and the fact that, with what were surely several broken toes, Bella really couldn't drive herself. The only words the girl had spoken to anyone since arriving in Seattle were when she argued with Carlisle and Alice about where she would go first upon their arrival in Forks. Bella wanted to go see Charlie first, but Carlisle was adamant that he be allowed to examine her foot and nose before she did anything else. In the end, Bella was on her way to the Cullens' house, pouting the entire way like an impetuous child.

Tensions, however, proved too high upon arrival at the white house in the woods for anything productive to occur. Despite Carlisle's attempts to check Bella's nose, she was simply too agitated to sit still, and the doctor finally threw his hands in the air in frustration.

"For goodness sakes, Bella! Just go have it out with Rosalie so that I can set your broken bones!"

Bella shot him a look, letting him know that she was not amused, and also that the blonde bitch wasn't the only one who was going to hear it from her tonight. He sighed and watched her limp from the room before he followed her outside.

It took only seconds for the entire family to gather in a ring around Bella and Rosalie, who were yelling in each other's faces by the time Carlisle emerged from the house. He went and stood beside his wife, whose shoulders were still shaking with silent sobs for her son, as she watched the scene in front of her unfolding with sad eyes. No one dared interrupt the two young women, all thinking it was probably best that they get this out of their system.

Emmett stood closest to the fray, ready to intervene if needed, and trying to hide the fact that he was pretty damned impressed with Bella as the human showed no fear being less than a foot away from the furious vampire that was his wife. In fact, Bella was giving it back as good as she got.

"What the fuck were you thinking, Bella? How could you just let them kill my brother? The man you were so desperately in love with?" Rosalie demanded.

"First of all, Rosalie," Bella sneered. "It was your fault that he was even there! If you could _ever_ keep your god damn mouth shut, none of us would be in this mess. And hell, the world would just be a much happier place without all your bitchiness!"

Rosalie looked taken aback. No one ever talked to her like this.

"And furthermore, _your_ brother wanted to let them kill _me_. He was more than willing to let Aro eat me for dinner! He said death was better. Really, think about it. All the whiny emo bullshit about being a monster and not having a soul... It was _his_ choice, Rosalie. I just didn't let him make mine for me."

"He never would have gone there in the first place if you would've just stayed out of our lives! All you've done is bring drama and disaster to our lives!"

Bella had had enough. She turned to limp away from the blonde vampire, really just sick and tired of it all. She didn't care enough to keep up the argument. For once, Bella refused to take the blame. She stopped, though, wanting one last word, and turned around.

"Do everyone a favor, Rosalie, and shut the hell up. Go back to wherever the hell you've been since Edward promised that I'd never see any of you again. That promise was the one kind thing any of you ever could have done after you fucking ruined my life, and you broke it. Fuck you all! Just go away!"

Rosalie was outraged, her vision beginning to have red around the edges, and she spit out a mouthful of venom as she she started toward Bella with murderous intentions.

Alice got the vision just in time, and ran to stop her sister, grabbing her by the arm. Rosalie had too much momentum in her charge, though, and Alice was left standing with Rosalie's arm in her hands. Bella was saved, for the moment, however, by Emmett's running tackle of his wife.

Even an arm short and pinned to the ground, Rosalie was still spewing her vitriol at Bella, calling her every name in the book, blaming her for every problem her family had faced in the past two years. Bella just stood there, a hand on her hip and the other in her pocket, looking bored.

"Yap yap yap," she said, sounding indifferent. "You sound like one of those annoying little dogs that stupid bitches carry around in their purses. You know, the kind that everyone on earth wishes would either shut up or drop dead?"

Rosalie hissed in anger at Bella's insult.

"You know what? I'm done," Bella said, then turned around and started limping away, no longer caring about having her bones set or about keeping her vampire chaperone by her side. She'd go to the hospital to get checked, say goodbye to her father, and then return to Italy on her own.

As she walked toward her car, her fingers toying with the lighter in her pocket, the one decorated with the Seattle skyline that she had absentmindedly picked up in the airport. She didn't even turn when she heard the scuffle behind her, choosing to distance herself as much as possible from any further vampire drama.

Suddenly, though, Bella heard a feral-sounding shriek, coming from a voice she recognized as Rosalie's. The sound was getting closer, and Bella realized that Rosalie had gotten away from Emmett and was coming at her once again. This time, though, Bella wasn't going to play nice. Without even turning around, Bella pulled the Zippo from her pocket, flipped it open, lit it, and tossed it over her shoulder.

A second later, the heavily incensed scent of burning vampire filled the air, and Bella turned around, looking at Rosalie's burning body with a smug smile. "That's one way to shut a bitch up."

The remaining Cullens looked at Bella in shock. For several minutes, no one uttered a word. Instead, five vampires and a human watched as Rosalie's existence came to an end. The silence was broken by Emmett, who, after grabbing Rosalie's arm out of Alice's frozen grasp, fell to his knees beside the flames that had taken his wife, his large shoulders shuddering as he wailed in agony for his loss.

"I can't... I can't..." he uttered through heavy sobs. He looked up at his parents, who were attempting, unsuccessfully, to comfort each other, his face contorted with pain. "I'm sorry, Mom. I just... I can't."

No one understood what Emmett was trying to say until it was too late. Setting Rosalie's arm down in the grass beside him, Emmett used one hand to rip two fingers off of his other hand at vampire speed, letting the venom pour out of the wound for a moment before lunging headfirst into the fire.

"Well, I sure didn't see that coming," Bella said flatly. "Guess you didn't either, Alice," she added with a accusatory sneer. "_Or_," she continued, "Maybe you just don't give a shit about your family anymore, seeing as how you've _let_ three die on your watch in the past twenty-four hours."

Bella stopped speaking for a moment, looking down at the flames and then shaking her head. "I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised, though, should I?" she continued, her diatribe directed at her ex-best friend. "After all, you were more than willing to walk away from me and leave me for dead with a vengeful vampire on my ass."

Taking note of the confused expressions on the faces around her, Bella thought it better to explain. "Oh, yeah, did you not think that Victoria might be a little pissed about you guys killing her mate?" Bella rolled her eyes, amazed at the stupidity. "She was. Mmhmm. She sent Laurent after me first, and she's been trying herself for awhile. The only reason I'm alive is the wolf pack. But you didn't give a shit, did you, Alice? None of you did. You just walked away and never looked back because I didn't mean a damn thing to you."

Bella took a deep breath, trying to calm down a bit, but then the blue flames caught her eye once again, stirring her anger right back up. "Guess Edward and Rosalie and Emmett didn't either," she quipped, leaning down to pick up Rosalie's arm that still laid on the ground, turning it over several times, examining it as she walked toward Alice.

Her decision was not make until the second before she acted, using Rosalie's hand to slap Alice hard across the face, knocking her nose off her face and right into the fire in the process. Bella couldn't help but think it was poetic justice.

Bella laughed bitterly as Alice shrieked and covered the hole in her face with her hands, trying to stop the flow of venom. "Didn't see _that_ coming either, did ya, Alice?"

Bella's moment of smug satisfaction was interrupted by Esme, who ran over to stand between the two girls which she still considered her daughters.

"Bella!" she cried. "Please, sweetheart! Please stop!"

Esme reached out to place a hand on Bella's shoulder, but the younger girl shrugged her off harshly. "Don't call me that," she hissed.

Esme's face fell. "Bella, I'm begging you to calm yourself. We're family here, despite all that has happened today. We're family!"

Bella's eyes shot up to meet Esme's, her glare harsh. "Don't you ever call me family again," she seethed. "You... You called me your daughter! How dare you even speak me," she said, her voice dripping with disgust as she let every feeling of betrayal that she'd been holding in for so long wash over her. "You left," she whispered. "You left me."

Esme had lost so much in the course of twenty-four hours, but somehow, this one hurt the worst. While she had always considered all of the vampires in her household, save Carlisle, of course, to be her children, Bella had been the first one who really needed her to be a mother. And with just those few words, Bella had completely shattered Esme's heart.

This wasn't the first time Esme had been in such a position. As a human, she had given birth to a son and then held him in her arms as he died a few short days later. The loss had been more than she could handle, and she had jumped from a cliff. As Esme stared at Bella, Bella's brown eyes completely devoid of feeling for her, those same feelings of heartbreak once again filled her. It was simply too much.

"You're absolutely right, Bella," Esme whispered between sobs. "I am a failure as a mother. I am so very, very sorry." Esme paused, looking down at the ground in shame. Then, following Emmett's example, she broke off two fingers and threw herself into the fire.

Carlisle fell to his knees as Esme disappeared into the flames, screaming her name. She had acted too fast for him to react to save her, and he was instead forced to watch the love of his existence perish forever in flames.

Carlisle, like so many others who lose a loved one, needed someone to blame. He found that someone in Alice. He rose to his feet, hatred in his eyes. "You," he said accusingly. "Surely you saw this coming! Half of our family is dead, and not one word of warning from you. Perhaps Bella was right after all!"

Those words said, Carlisle charged at the small, spiky-haired vampire who he had once thought of as a daughter. The loss of his mate had broken him so much that family ties no longer held any meaning for him. He was now in a position similar to the crazed red-haired vampire who had been stalking Bella; his only thought being that of revenge.

Jasper, however, felt Carlisle's emotions and read their intent before the elder vampire even took his first step. He leapt at Carlisle, tackling him to the ground before he could reach Alice, who stood, frozen by grief and shock, still dripping venom from the wound on her face. The two men tumbled several times before their momentum gave way, and then the true battle between the two began.

Bella stood still, her eyes wide as she watched Carlisle and Jasper wrestle and punch and kick. It was hard to tell which was winning due to the speed with which they were moving. The fight went on for a few minutes, and Bella had to admit she was impressed with Carlisle's efforts, given that he was usually such a pacifist.

But just as she was making that observation, everything changed. Carlisle and Jasper were locked together, their arms intertwined as each tried desperately to escape the other's grasp. Jasper, having entered the fight to protect his mate from what he saw was a threat, sank his teeth into Carlisle's shoulder, pulling his arm clean off of his body. At the same moment, Carlisle, who had a strong grip on Jasper's left wrist, twisted hard, completely separating Jasper's hand from his arm.

Suddenly, Alice screamed behind them, distracting the men just enough in their moment of pain to cause them to be off-balance when they crashed into each other. They tumbled to the ground yet again, and, despite Alice's screams of warning, they rolled right into the fire, their open wounds setting their venom aflame immediately.

As Alice watched, devastated, as her mate's existence came to an end, her shoulders shook with sobs. After several minutes, she turned her eyes away from the fire that still burned hot with the venom of the rest of the Cullen family as their bodies continued to turn to ash, and looked at Bella.

"Are you happy now?" she demanded of the young human girl. "Are you? I've lost everything now!"

"Happy?" Bella scoffed. "I haven't been happy since the day I turned 18. The day that you and your family ruined my life."  
"You really mean that, don't you?" Alice asked, devastated.

"I had given my whole heart to your family, Alice. You all led me to believe that I was part of the family. That I was loved. That I had a future of belonging with you to look forward to. And then you ripped it away from me. You walked away, never once looked back, taking everyone that I loved away from me in one fell swoop. You didn't even care enough to say good bye. I loved you, Alice. But I hate you now."

Alice's head hung low on her shoulders, and she no longer made any attempt to staunch the flow of venom from her face. "Then there's nothing left for me here," she whispered. "Good luck, Bella."

Bella watched as the vampire she had once called her sister, the last remaining Cullen, hopped into the fire that had taken the rest of the family away. She did not cry. She refused to shed one more tear for the family who had broken her.  
Realizing that she was still holding Rosalie's arm in her hands, she tossed it into the fire, and walked to the other side of the flames to pick up Carlisle's arm and Jasper's hand, tossing them in as well. For a moment, she thought it was a shame that the Cullens had ended this way, but she cut that line of thought short, realizing that just because they didn't drink from humans and end their lives in that way, they had still taken her life away all the same.

That discovery brought her anger back to the forefront of her mind. Bella limped over to the bright blue flames, the sweat dripping from her brow as she neared the heat of the fire. She was determined to have the final say in this matter. As her final "fuck you" to the heartbreak that she was determined to let die with the vampires, she would spit on the fire.

Bella, however, being Bella, had enough trouble walking on a good day. With several broken toes, however, it was nearly an impossible task. And in keeping with the shitty luck that had followed her since her move to Forks, Bella tripped, and fell right into the fire.

If nothing else, Bella got her wish. Her heartbreak most definitely died that day.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Please let me know what you thought!**


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